Another gorgeous day in the Caribbean. Today we were arriving in Aruba and I was really looking forward to this visit as I heard it was beautiful. 
I always thought that all the islands were the same or very similar. This week has proven that wrong! Aruba is like the Vegas of the Caribbean and nothing like any other islands we have visited. Aruba is approximately 25km north of Venezuela and is the “A” is ABC islands.
After a busy week of exploring, we wanted to keep today a little more chill. I did my research and decided we would spend the day at an all inclusive resort. We got off the ship and waited for a taxi for approximately 10 minutes. Our driver arrived and took us to RIU Palace that was located on beautiful Palm beach. It was about a 10 minute drive.
The hotel lobby was beautiful and super clean. I read a lot of reviews on this property and they were all right so far.
Bria was very excited as this was her first time visiting an all inclusive resort
After our quick check-in, we headed for breakfast. We didn’t eat breakfast on the ship because we wanted to check out the buffet here and it was included in the price. There was a huge variety to choose from. I didn’t get photo’s of everything but I managed to get a few.
After we were all full from breakfast, we headed outside to check out the pool area.
The kids were super excited to see what a swim-up bar looked like.
It sure looked good and the kids were ready to jump in!
It wasn’t long before they went to the swim-up bar and got themselves a fruity drink (Virgin drinks that is).
After a few hours in the pool, we decided to check out the beach.
It was a beautiful beach
We went for lunch again at the buffet and it was delicious. After that we did some more lounging around.
Pina Colada’s for everyone!
5:30pm and it’s time to head back to the ship. Today was an amazing day and we sure relaxed and soaked up the sun!
Good-bye pretty hotel
We arrived back at the ship just after 6pm. We didn’t rush today because we were staying in port late and all aboard time was 1:45am. I was so excited because we could get off the ship later tonight to see the ship all lit up. But first we had to get ready for Palo.
We had dinner reservations at 7:30pm for Palo but the kids were still going to Animator’s Palate. They love going to the restaurants alone haha!
Palo is an adult-only, fine dining restaurant. We go here for a date night on every sailing we do. You can do Palo brunch or dinner and the cost is $30.00 per person. Palo is a little piece of Italy and got the BEST dessert I’ve ever had. We went with Jim and Tanya and I can’t believe we didn’t get a group shot of us there. They aren’t in the pictures but we sure had a wonderful evening with them.
Our server was from Thailand and here are a few appetizers we tried
I always get the steak…it’s sooo good!
As I said, the dessert is my favorite and by the time we got through the menu we were stuffed. You should always go to Palo with a good appetite! Here is my favorite…Chocolate Soufflé
Kerry had 2 of course
Here is what the kids were up to when we were on our date. First, they had a little photoshoot with the ship photographers
Met up with Donald
Finally they went to Animator’s Palate for dinner.
Tonight was Animation Magic! You draw your character on a special placemat when you arrive
and later it will come to life as it appears on the screens around the room in a magic animation show. It’s pretty phenomenal how they do this!
and then you will see the credits with your name
Here are Bria and Maison’s dessert choices for tonight
Next…our very first time visiting a port at night. 11pm we headed off to stroll around. There is a casino close by but we didn’t check it out. The ship is also very pretty on the outside!
Maison & Brody stayed on the ship as they had plans at Vibe. Jim, Tanya, Kerry, Bria and I went to have a look around.
So cool! We headed back to the ship as we were all so tired from being in the sun all day and also stuffed from eating at Palo!
Tomorrow we are at Sea! We have another “first” planned for tomorrow!
Adventures With The Roos 